“Ghost is stronger than most,” Link argued.
“Yeah. True. Plus she’s sweet on Mav.”
“Still can’t get over the fact he’s come out to visit with her,” Nyx muttered, shaking his head.
Link tugged on my hand. “Come on, babe. Got something to show you.”
Giulia snorted. “Don’t trust his ‘show and tell,’ Lily.”
Link flipped her the bird, then hauled me along the path back to the bunkhouse I’d been in since the afternoon he, Rex, and Nyx had brought me here.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I queried, a little breathless at the pace he was setting.
“Nothing’s wrong. Nothing at all.”
I wasn’t sure whether he was speaking truthfully or not, but I figured I’d find out the second I was inside.
The exterior of the bunkhouse was painted a soft cream, and the door and the shutters were a maroon red that gave the place a cozy charm which seemed discordant with their locale. Still, I wasn’t sure why an MC needed little cottages like this on their land, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know either. If only the inside looked as quaint as the outside—hippies would be well at home once they crossed the threshold.
When Link burst into the bunkhouse and slammed the door closed, I wondered what on Earth was the matter, then I found myself pressed against the still vibrating door and Link pressed against me in turn.
Before my heart could leap in surprise, his mouth was on mine and his tongue was between my lips.
Maybe, with another man, I’d have tensed up, maybe I’d have been scared. But this was Link. And I trusted him.
So, with my body in full recognition of who was rubbing up against it, I proceeded to melt into him. God, my legs almost turned to mush as he took my mouth like he was taking all of me. Like he was absorbing me into him or something.
I’d been kissed before. I wasn’t totally hopeless. But this was a kiss. All the others had been posers.
Dear God.
My hands came up to grab a hold of his hair to keep him in place, but he gripped one of them and pinned it over head. My fingers interlocked with his, and I knew my nails were digging into his knuckles, but he didn’t seem to mind as he thrust his tongue against mine, making me think about what it would feel like for his dick to be inside me.
I’d only ever associated sex with pain, and even then, I’d done my damnedest to dissociate myself from most things sexual. If I was frigid, so be it. That was my survival technique and, if I did say so myself, I’d done a damn fine job of it over the years.
But this?
This kiss?
It decimated me.
Tore me down, took away all the teachings that had been forced upon me until he was kissing Lily.
The true me.
I moaned into his mouth as he rocked his dick against my belly. When I lifted my leg, hooking it against his hip, he took advantage and moved closer, not stopping until his hardness was pushing into my softness. The feeling was exquisite. I didn’t have room for fear, didn’t have time to tense up. I just felt. And it was simultaneously liberating and mind-blowing.
Not for the first time, I scented sweat and engine oil on him. Scents that came from a day of honest work, and God, it just added to the moment. Something about the thought of him doing that stuff, of working hard, of getting his hands dirty, made the feel of him against me all the more raw. All the more overwhelming.
I was used to gentle hands, soft, manicured nails. Muscles that were earned solely in a gym. Skin that was tanned from a spray…Link was none of those things, and he was all the more perfect for it.
He rocked his hips, not stopping until every inch of his dick was rubbing down the length of me. He nudged my clit, prodded at the softness of my opening through my slacks, and made me long to feel him without any of the trappings between us.
When I came, it exploded through me. Bursting into a shower of light I had never anticipated, because who the hell came from just a kiss?
But this wasn’t just any kiss. This was Link and me, and when we were together, we made fireworks happen.
The second I screamed into his mouth, he pulled back, and his lips retreated to my throat. He went to the side, where my neck connected to my torso, and he sucked down hard, nipping until he bit as he rocked his hips harder, faster, grinding into me until he came too. The long, loud groan was offset by the flesh he had between his teeth and even though it hurt—God, it hurt so badly—it was wonderful.
Bliss.
I rocked my head back against the door, feeling windswept and dazed and, hell, dazzled in the aftermath.
He was a heavy weight against me, but I could have dealt with that weight on top of me for the rest of my life.
Fuck.
The words resonated with me in a way that nothing else ever had.
I twisted my head to the side so I could press a kiss to his jaw. “Link?”
He mumbled under his breath, something I translated as, “Whassup, sugar tits?”
“I-I—” I stared ahead at the shitty bunkhouse that a Lancaster wouldn’t be seen dead in. The dowdy wallpaper, the crappy furniture, all on a compound that was manned by nothing more than modern-day highwaymen. And, Lord help me, my heart squeezed so tight in my chest, I felt certain it would burst.
“Ya okay?” he mumbled again, part of my neck still against his damn lips.
Could I say it?
Could I even begin to enunciate what he made me feel? What he brought out in me?
My mouth trembled even as my eyes burned, and I knew I had to say it, I knew it. Even if it made things weird. Even if it changed things and made him not want to protect me anymore, even though, I felt certain, that wouldn’t happen.
Link wasn’t like any other man I’d ever known.
Sure, he had his ways, but he was selfless. He was a protector.
My protector.
I released a shaky breath and whispered, “I love you, Link.”
He didn’t tense up, didn’t even sigh. If anything, he rocked his head up and back so he could look at me, square in the eye, and with a rueful grin, muttered, “Really glad you feel that way, sugar tits, because if this ain’t love, then I don’t know what the fuck it is.”
My lips curved into a wry smile. “That’s how you’re going to tell me you love me for the first time?”
His grin widened. “I like to do things a certain way.”
“I noticed.” I rocked my hips up so I dragged my softness against him. “That was incredible.”
“I’d take a bow but my knees might blow out.” He pulled a face. “Hate to admit it, babe, but you do shit to me that no—” He sighed. “I don’t mean sex. Just this. We feel right, sugar.”
I’d wanted to pull his hair out for daring to mention other women, but I got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about women, but everyone. Maybe even his family. His brothers.
So I nodded and murmured, “I understand, Link.”
His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Barely know you. Not in the real scheme of things, but I feel like something in me knew you right from the start.” His lips twisted. “Saw you walk into the bar that night, all fancy like. Reminded me of ‘Uptown Girl,’ and I always fucking hated Billy Joel.
“But shit, you got my back up. Especially when you got all cozy with Cody.” He cringed. “Wanted to ram his nose into his skull when you leaned into him like that. Then, he sent Storm a message—”
“Storm? I thought he texted you?” I quibbled.
“Nah. Storm’s VP. He was there, like he is most nights, getting wasted until he comes back here and gets wasted some more.” He reached up and tapped my bottom lip. “You need to meet Keira. I think you’d like her.”
“She’s a friend of yours?” When he nodded, I murmured, “Then she’s a friend of mine.”
His eyes lit up at that, but he joked, “Got some bad friends, babe, not sure you want to know all of them.”
“Can’t be any worse than the sharks I’
ve known all my life, Link.”
“No, I guess not,” he grumbled darkly. “But Storm showed us the text, and I said I’d deal with it because he was hammered. So I did, I went to you, and I saw you in the hallway. You looked like you were gonna have a heart attack or something. Reminded me of my ma, back when she couldn’t afford her asthma meds. Used to wheeze and shit.”
I swallowed, thickly. “You were—”
“Poor? Dirt poor, babe.” His smile was wry. “Not anymore, but I’m still not good enough for you. Better than fucking Fieri though. Fucking scum.”
“Don’t you think I should get a say in who’s good enough for me?” I ran my hands through his hair, letting my nails drag along his scalp, smiling when he groaned a little at that, tilting his head back so I could scrape all over the curve of his skull. “Everyone has been making decisions for me since I was a baby. I’ve made my decision. I want you. I love you.”
“Done bad stuff in my time,” he stated softly. “Weird stuff too. I’ve got a rep.”
“You mentioned that before. What kind of rep?”
He blew out a breath. “Like ass play.”
That had me blinking, then cringing. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.” Another gusty breath. “Not just on you, but on me too.”
My eyes widened at that. “On you?” I whispered, unaware that my eyes had dilated at the prospect, but Link, as usual, saw everything.
“Yeah. On me.” He grunted. “Fuck, you like the idea of that, don’t you? Knew you were a dirty fox the second I laid eyes on you, sugar tits.”
A smile crested my lips at his statement. “Your dirty fox?”
“Mine,” he rumbled. “Always, Lily. Always mine.”
And, Lord help me, I liked the sound of that.
Twelve
Link
Three days later
When I rolled into the parking space reserved for customers of Indiana Ink, a hoot escaped the woman riding bitch at my back.
“Oh my God, that was fucking epic!” Lily squealed, her arms hugging me so tight that it would have hurt if it hadn’t felt so fucking good.
A laugh escaped me. “I’d never have been able to figure it out, what with all the hollering you’ve been doing back there.”
I guided her off the back of my hog, laughing again when she bounced on her feet. “I loved it!”
“I’m glad, sugar tits,” I rumbled, reaching out to haul her against me, loving her energy and excitement.
I’d thought she’d be nervous on the bike, wouldn’t have thought she’d like it. A couple of my brothers, Storm and Steel, had warned that it wasn’t for everyone, and because she was so fucking dainty, so much a lady, she might hate it.
I was glad they were wrong.
Fuck, I was ecstatic myself.
She beamed at me even as she lowered her head to press a kiss to my mouth.
Me being me, I slipped her some tongue, and Lily being Lily—AKA mine—she lapped it up. A groan escaped her as her hands did that fucking thing she’d started doing, that thing I loved, and her nails scraped over my scalp, digging in in a perfect way.
The only reason I didn’t bend her over my bike and make something of this was her goddamn cell ringing.
She tensed at the sound and I figured she recognized the tone. Her tension wasn’t the good kind either. She froze against me, her nails digging into my scalp in a less than perfect way now, and I pulled back, whispering, “What is it, babe?”
“My father.” Her voice was hoarse.
“We expected this,” I rumbled.
“Did we?” she whispered.
“You had to know he’d call, babe. Even if it was for help.”
“I don’t want to answer.”
I shrugged. “Then don’t.”
She clenched her eyes shut, displaying a vulnerability I wasn’t altogether used to seeing in her. But I guessed it made sense. For all these years she’d worn a mask, and now that he was gone, she was safe, and I’d vowed to protect her, it figured that she’d let the mask slip. Now, she was regretting that. Regretting it because whatever she thought he’d say, she knew it had to be bad.
She bit her bottom lip so hard that it started to turn purple, and just when I thought she was going to make herself bleed, she released her hold on me and quickly grabbed her cell.
She eyed it like it was an alien gadget, and when I felt certain she was going to toss it on the ground and stomp on it, she connected the call and put it on speaker.
“Father?”
Her voice was different. Fuck. Talk about a mask! Hell, it was like a different Lily. She sounded so formal, so disinterested and apathetic.
“Lilian, I don’t have much time,” he ground out. “I need you to go into my bedroom and access the safe.”
“I’m not at home,” she said woodenly. “But I will be later.”
“Did they bar you from the house?”
I frowned at that and his concern. Was it self-aimed or for his daughter?
“Why would they?”
“When they pulled the illegal search.” We both shared a confused look. Illegal search? Hadn’t her guards told him about us going in and removing Luke’s computer? “Don’t worry, my lawyers are working on it. But in the interim,” he stated, not letting her get a word in edgewise. “I need you to go home as soon as you can and use the code 07-12-67 to access the safe behind the Picasso above my dresser.” He blew out a breath, and in the background, I could hear the sound of a loud speaker that was, unmistakably, in an airport. “When you retrieve the documents, go to my lawyer in Manhattan. The details are all in there.” Another burst of sound in the background had him muttering, “Shit, I have to go. I’ll be in touch.”
He cut the call without even waiting for her to say another word, and she blinked at me, a little dead-eyed even as she whispered, “What the hell is his game?”
“We can reschedule the appointment here?” I suggested, worried by the look in her eyes. I’d have to admit, I was curious as hell about what was inside his safe that made him call her like this.
“No. I want my tattoo,” she ground out. “Whatever he wants can wait.” She straightened up, her nose in the air. “I don’t care.”
“No, but it might be interesting to see what he’s hiding. He evidently doesn’t think you’re involved with his arrest warrant.”
“Doesn’t surprise me. He knows I’m smart. You don’t get the grades I did in school and college without being intelligent, but because I’m a girl, he always discounted it. Well, joke’s on him.” She tightened her mouth. “I want my tattoo.”
I raised a hand. “Okay, babe. We’ll get it,” I told her soothingly, because I felt like she was on the brink of losing control and that was the last thing I wanted.
Seeing her reaction to her father’s call made me wonder how long she’d been so on the edge, and it made me hug her that bit tighter as I hauled her into my side as we walked into Indiana Ink.
“Yo, Link,” Indiana greeted the second we were inside, and I grinned at her, squeezed Lily a little, and raised my free hand.
“Hey, Indy, how’s you?”
She waggled her eyebrows. “I’m good. Real good. This your lady?”
I dragged ‘my lady’ over to the desk and leaned against it as I smiled at her. “This is Lily.”
“Never thought I’d see the day Link would get himself an Old Lady.” She beamed at Lily. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you.”
Lily’s smile was more polite than anything else. “And I you.”
Indiana shot me a look that had me holding back a laugh. I thought it was cute as fuck when Lily ended up sounding like she’d come out of an Edgar Allen Poe book, but that was me.
“So, aside from the ‘property of’ tat, you want anything else?”
“‘Property of?’” Lily repeated.
“That’s what the tattoo has to say,” I told her softly.
“You could have warned the girl,” Indy chided. “I me
an, dude.”
“No, it’s okay, I just didn’t understand.” Lily bit her lip. “I’d like a fox tattoo.” Her eyes connected with mine and, instantly, I knew we were both thinking back to the other day when I’d called her a dirty fox.
Her cheeks pinkened, but her grin was anything but sheepish. I smirked at her, then at Indy as I hauled my arm over Lily’s shoulders, so fucking proud of her right then that I could have goddamn burst.
Indy, not getting the reference, merely shrugged. “Like a real fox? Or some kind of Japanese one? There are some super cool graphic foxes, but I have to warn you, the lines might blur over time.”
“Can you show me examples?”
“Of course. Better still, I’ll draw you something.” Her hand snapped out, and like it was connected to her, a pencil was suddenly between her fingers. As I gazed down at the paper she was drawing on, my brows rose as I saw the state of her desk. There was paper everywhere, and her diary was wide open. I didn’t mean to snoop, but the second my eyes glanced over a name in the books, I felt my jaw pretty much gape open.
MAVERICK.
In caps.
Maverick? My Maverick? The Maverick who never left the fucking compound? Who hadn’t left the clubhouse until Ghost had come to us?
Even as I wanted to choke on that, curiosity making me wonder why the fuck he’d want to come here, the scratching of Indy’s pencil grabbed my attention, and I saw she was already on a second example of the fox she could style for Lily. Because Nyx’s sister’s imagination was pretty much blooming into being, before I lost her totally, I informed her, “Did Douchebag David tell you that I wanted a tattoo too?”
Indy cocked a brow, but that was all I needed to know I’d grabbed her attention as well. Her pencil stopped, then she eyed me warily. “David called in sick this morning. Hence the state of the desk. But…really?” The word came out over six or so syllables.
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